Nottingham residents have said Europe should 'sit up and take notice' of what Nottingham has to offer as the city officially submitted it bid for European Capital of Culture 2023.

The city has drawn on its heritage of rebellion, social justice and innovation as it submitted its bid to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport today (October 27).

In celebration, six foot numbers - depicting '2023' - were placed in front of the Council House in Old Market Square and people were asked to draw self-portraits of themselves to show their support for the bid.

The first 200 were given free doughnuts bought from the Nottingham Doughnut Company, based in Long Row, as thank you gift.

"It's an amalgamation of things. Geographically we are an hour away from other cities. We are quite close to Derby, Sheffield, Leeds and Birmingham," she said.

"We are so close to East Midlands Airport and we have fantastic transport links to London. We are a bit of a melting pot for that."

Alicia Nunn, 20, who lives in Basford and works at a law firm, said: "It's quite good because Nottingham is always getting involved in stuff like this. This brings people together and Nottingham together."

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Tracey Meek, 37, an artist from Derby, helped people to draw their portraits.

She said: "I just hope that Nottingham gets it. We are getting people involved. I am a bit of a people watcher and this is perfect for me."

The bid is backed by stars from film, music, theatre and art, including Line of Duty star Vicky McClure and Sleaford Mods frontman Jason Williamson.

A consortium made up of Nottingham City Council, the University of Nottingham, Nottingham Trent University and Marketing NG - named Nottingham's Strategic Cultural Partnership - is spearheading the bid.

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"If you look at cities that have had this designation in Britain before, they have befitted enormously. We're calling it Breaking the Frame and some of that's a nod to our past and Luddites and lace making.

"It'll boost the economy. Nottingham is a gorgeous, wonderful and exciting place to live but it enables us to make it even a more desirable place to live and work in. And for other people to stay longer when they do visit."

Genevieve Preece, communications executive at Marketing NG added: "This shows how ambitious the city is and confident in putting ourselves forward for such big events.

"If we were to win the title it would have a huge impact.

Board members of the Nottingham 2023 bid for the European Capital of Culture title gather at a launch event in Sneinton Market

"We have some amazing ideas and plans that have been put forward in the bid book that would have a genuine impact on the city.

"It would reach out from across the city centre through to the suburbs and hopefully involve everybody from children to older people and give people new opportunities and new jobs as well.

"At the moment there's a really strong creative scene in Nottingham. It's just a case of extending that and passing opportunities to schools to younger children and workshops and places where people can go."

Nottingham 2023: Breaking the Frame will seek to challenge how and where culture is made, what it means, who it is made for and who can make it – while reframing the city’s relationship with Europe in a post-Brexit world through creative collaboration.

Under two flagship programmes, Everyone is an Artist and Art Can Change the World, everyone in Nottingham will have the chance to take part in creative projects, while people from Europe will also be invited to take part.

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People in housing estates, schools and community centres will be invited to work with European artists, while the scheme will also be linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals through a partnership with the University of Nottingham’s Rights Lab.

The European Capital of Culture scheme was launched in 1985 and is managed by the European Union. Britain’s involvement in 2023 will not be affected by Brexit but its future inclusion is unclear.

It is not to be confused with the UK City of Culture scheme, currently hosted by Hull.

Title holders will organise a series of cultural events with a continental theme and aims to help foster urban regeneration, change the city’s image and raise its profile on an international scale.

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When Liverpool hosted the contest in 2008, it estimated a return of £750m to the local economy from a £170m outlay and studies found that the number of residents who said they were “proud” to live in Liverpool increased by 82 percent.